The Heart's Cry: Psalm 54

Psalm 54

Considering David's actions and words it is not that surprising that the world didn't comprehend Jesus as Messiah at first. Messiah was to be the heir of David, the conquering hero, the shepherd boy who outwitted his enemies, the slayer of Goliath, the defeater of Saul, the one who beat his tens of thousands. In light of who David was its not too surprising that Herod wanted to wipe out a generation to make sure that type of king didn't come on the scene. In light of who David was its not too surprising that Judas thought Jesus was going to be something other than he was. In light of who David was its not too surprising that many of his followers expected a violent overthrow of Rome. Violence, bloodshed, retribution, revenge, this is what the people expected, and instead they got a baby born in the middle of nowhere, who fled to egypt, was raised by a carpenter, and for his grand entrance turned water into wine.

Yeah, its not too surprising that the world had blinders on when it came to the son of Mary. Take a moment and read Luke 4:14-21 and then read Isaiah 61:1-2. Do you notice anything missing in Luke that Isaiah contains? You'll find it right at the end if you missed it the first time. Isaiah 2 includes "and the day of vengeance of our God" whereas Jesus does not, he unrolls the scroll to this particular passage and leaves out the part about God's vengeance. If you keep reading in Luke, the crowd is at first amazed at Jesus, but then he tells them that a prophet is never accepted in his hometown and they run him out and try to kill him. I wonder if part of the reason they did this is because they realized what Jesus left out. Jesus was here to speak good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to declare the year of the Lord's favor, but he did not come to announce the day of vengeance, that wasn't part of his mission, and the people had hoped that it would be.

+ In what other ways did Jesus surprise the Israelites?

+ In what ways does he continue to surprise you?